Book Chat – Kate Daniels Series by Ilona Andrews

Posted on August 6, 2014 by Kristal

I recently read Magic Breaks, the 7th book in the Kate Daniels series and thought that instead of writing a review I’d just have a chat about the series as a whole and mention a few things I enjoyed about this latest Kate installment.

This series has been one of my ALL TIME BEST series since I picked up the first book in a library a few years back. Admittedly the first book does suffer a little from ‘first book in the series syndrome’ but once you have a grip on Kate and her world the whole story sucks you into a crazy vortex of UF awesomeness. A little about the series –

“The world has suffered a magic apocalypse. We pushed the technological progress too far, and now magic returned with a vengeance. It comes in waves, without warning, and vanishes as suddenly as it appears. When magic is up, planes drop out of the sky, cars stall, electricity dies. When magic is down, guns work and spells fail.
It’s a volatile, screwed-up world. Magic feeds on technology, gnawing down on skyscrappers until most of them topple and fall, leaving only skeletal husks behind. Monsters prowl the ruined streets, werebears and werehyenas stalk their prey; and the Masters of the Dead, necromancers driven by their thirst of knowledge and wealth, pilot blood-crazed vampires with their minds.
In this world lives Kate Daniels. Kate likes her sword a little too much and has a hard time controlling her mouth. The magic in her blood makes her a target, and she spent most of her life hiding in plain sight. But sometimes even trained killers make friends and fall in love, and when the universe tries to kick them in the face, they kick back.”

One of the (many) things I adore about this series is that I have never have felt let down by a book in this series. There is not ONE BOOK that I would pinpoint as ‘just ok’. They are all so good, and they just keep getting better! I think a lot of that is probably down to Kate. When you follow a long running series like this, there tends to be times where you just want to punch the heroine in the face. Or at least I do. But I have never felt this with Kate. She has had solid character development throughout the series while still remaining the baddest magical bitch in town. She never comes across as completely reckless to me either. Yes, some of her plans are a little outrageous, but she’s loyal and courageous and always does what needs to be done. She takes care of business. Admittedly she gets herself into a few ill advised situations but I have never felt concerned for her life. I have unwavering confidence in her. Ahem…and her smoking hot boyfriend Curran (their relationship just never gets dull for me!).

In the 7th Kate installment, Magic Breaks, we finally get to meet the elusive Roland. Admittedly at the start of book 7 I had a little feeling that things may not be headed in the direction we all assumed they would go. Personally, I loved the direction this whole Kate/ Roland story line took. It feels balanced but at the same time so fragile and complex that I can’t help but wonder where things will go from here. I also think that while it’s not the path we all assumed she would take, it really is the only path she could have taken at that stage of her life and in that situation. After all Roland hasn’t lived for thousands of years and become the most powerful of Gods by being mediocre. I loved that we got a little insight into how things sat for him and how he felt about the whole situation, including Kate’s birth. It leads the way for some really interesting character development where Kate is concerned.

So yes, I freakin LOVED the 7th installment in the series. It was another solid Kate Daniels read for me and I’m hanging out for the 8th book now. Sigh…only a year to wait.

If you haven’t picked up a Kate Daniels book yet, and UF mixed with a serve of romance is your thing, then do yourself a favour and get started on this series ASAP! Then when you’re done, give yourself a little high five for finding such an awesome new series. It’s compulsory UF reading!

Oh also a little extra bit – here’s how I see Kate and Curran in my head – Reow!!